


Delicate

by Zoya113



Category: The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: Father figure hidgens, Gen, implies Emma had a rough upbringing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-30
Updated: 2019-11-30
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:07:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21615814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zoya113/pseuds/Zoya113
Summary: Hidgens can be a bit overbearing with Emma, so much so he forgets she’s an adult sometimes. Emma can’t stand being treated like a child.
Relationships: Emma Perkins & Henry Hidgens, implied Paulkins
Comments: 3
Kudos: 41





	Delicate

**Author's Note:**

> God I’ve got so much Emma & Hidgens head canons going on @ this point that these probably don’t make any sense any more

“Well thank you for your help, Emma,” Hidgens tilted his head towards the sink so she would remember to wash her hands. “I’ve always had trouble getting that part of the experiment set up without an extra pair of hands.”

“No problem!” She grinned, peeling off her gloves and turning on the tap. “What else can I help with?”

“You’ve done plenty, dearest,” he leant in to examine the slide under the microscope to confirm it was ready. “You can head back up to the living room if you’d like.”

“Oh! It’s all good, I’ll keep you company!” She pulled out a chair from the benches and dragged it over to the microscope.

He shook his head. “Oh no dear, that isn’t necessary. I need to concentrate, so I’ll need silence in the lab.” 

She shrugged. “That’s all good! I can get some studying done. I want to know how the experiment goes, I’ll just chill down here.” She elbowed him playfully but he had to lean back from the microscope to ensure he didn’t ruin the experiment. 

“Don’t do that please dear,” he brushed a hand over his side. “I need to concentrate completely. You go set up in the living room and I’ll see you in a moment, okay? I have some practice tests I was going to hand out on Wednesday, you can start one of those if you’d like.” 

“Oh cool! Sure, can I bring it back down here?”

He gave a gentle laugh at her persistence. “Dear, you heard me. Now come on, out you go.”

She frowned. “I’m not going to make any noise, Hidgens. I just wanted to watch you work.”

“Yes, but this is a very fragile experiment my dearest. The materials are expensive and I need to concentrate.” 

“I know,” she nodded. “It’s really cool and I saw all your notes while we were setting it up and I’d love to see it!” She pleaded. “We never get to do anything like this in class, it’s really cool and-“

“Emma,” he spoke with a hint of steel in his voice this time. “I told you that you couldn’t stay. You can see it when it’s done if you’d like but right now-“

“Hidgens! I’m not going to bother you, I’ll work on the other side of the room!”

Hidgens shook his head, counting down backwards in his head from ten. If she was still rambling he’d have to change his tone. He knew his habit of spoiling her would come back to bite him one day, he was far too lenient with her. She never obeyed him out of fear, she listened to him because she liked him, but unfortunately, she liked him a little too much. She was clingy occasionally, and didn’t like leaving him alone. 

“And it’s not like I’m going to elbow you again. I know it’s a fragile test, I read all your notes, I know how it’ll work!”

“Emma, just ask Alexa to get some videos up on the TV if you’re that interested, but I need you to leave for now,” he made sure to raise his voice this time, remaining firm in his stance. “I’m not starting the experiment until you’re out of the lab. Take your coat off.” 

Emma pulled at the sleeves of her lab coat, but didn’t remove it. “What difference will it make if I’m in the room or not? I could-“

He clicked his fingers to cut her off. “Come on. Coat off. Go on, Emma.” 

Emma trailed off, her eyes slipping from his face and down to his hand. Mumbled words still tumbled from her lips like she couldn’t put the breaks on them fast enough. 

“Emma, come on. Don’t argue with me please. Go upstairs and start a practice test. It’ll be good for you.”

She was silent at least. “Uh...” she slowly shrugged it off her shoulders, hugging it to her chest for just a second before folding it up to place on the table. She hesitated like she had something more to say.

“Emma,” he clicked his fingers, pointing at the door. He didn’t want to hear anymore contentions, he had to start the test.

She didn’t need to be told again. There was an unusual look in her eyes as she backed up, and when she bumped into the bench behind her she spun around and bolted up the staircase out of the lab. 

He knew she didn’t like being told off, especially by him, but that was a bit of an overreaction for such a levelheaded request. But she’d settle back down soon. 

Right now, he had the silence and focus he needed to start his experiment. 

Funnily enough, he couldn’t hear her footsteps on the floor above at all, but he wasn’t complaining. 

It was a delicate experiment he was working with. He had to manually insert plasmid vectors into the tissue cells he was working with and if he twitched or moved, the whole test could be ruined.

At his age, his hands were already burdened with occasional, light tremors and shakes, he didn’t need to worry about diverting any extra attention towards Emma to ensure she was behaving in the meantime.

But somehow, with Emma out of the way he was even more distracted. There had been something so strange about the way she had left, like she had just seen a ghost. 

He exhaled a bothered breath of air he was holding in his lungs. He just had to focus on the experiment. 

He should’ve been taking notes when he saw the phospholipids reacting to the vectors he inserted, but no. As per usual, he was just worried about Emma.

“Huh.” He stepped back, setting down his tools carefully. 

He headed upstairs and peered out the lab door, but she wasn’t in the living room.  
“Emma?” He opened up the study door just in case she was still looking for the test papers, but no luck.

She must’ve just gone to her room. He grunted. She was probably upset with him, and that wasn’t quite fair. He had been reasonable with her, he would barely even call it a scolding. 

He was ten minutes back into his experiment when there was a meek, lone knock at the lab doors. 

It would have made him jump if it was any louder, and he let out a frustrated sigh as he set down his tools again. He hadn’t even heard her walk up to the doors.  
“Yes?” He called out, resting his hands on his hips and expecting some sort of apology or explanation. 

“Hey, Professor?” She quietly opened the door, not even stepping inside. 

“You better have a good reason to be back in the lab, dear. I told you I needed to concentrate.”

“I’m going to call Paul,” her voice was hanging low, like she didn’t know if she could talk or not. “I mean, if I’m all done here. If you don’t need me to do anything else.” 

He was confused by her behaviour. He knew she knew he needed to concentrate but he wasn’t even touching the microscope. So why would she be so quiet? 

“Oh, you’re going home?” It wasn’t what he expected to hear. “What for?” He paced over to the staircase as he spoke, looking up at her. 

“I just thought,” she watched him come closer. “You need to concentrate. I should get out of the house.”

“That’s not what I meant when I asked you to leave though,” he chuckled. “No, no, dear. All I meant was I needed the lab to myself!” He hoped that was all the miscommunication there was.

She nodded. “I got that, I just figured I’d go home and see Paul.” 

“Is Paul okay?” She didn’t sound as happy as usual about that, her fingers were clasped around the doorknob and they were fiddling nervously with it. 

“Yeah, Paul’s fine, why?” 

“Are you fine then?” Hidgens blinked, taking a slow step up the stairs.

“I’m fine,” she answered cautiously. Emma took a measured step backwards, nodding her head. “Yeah, I’m fine. I just thought, y’know. I’m not feeling too fresh, so I don’t wanna bother you while you’re working.”

He walked up the staircase and for every step he took Emma took one back. When he was at the top, she had backed herself over to the dining table, and was clinging onto one of the chairs, leaning around it like some sort of shield. 

“What’s wrong, Emma?” He asked, trying to get closer to her. 

Emma shrugged, looking down at the floor as she fell onto the seat she was holding. “Nothing, I’m fine. I just said I was gonna go home, I’ll ring Paul. Everything is fine, it’s alright.”

“You use that word a lot but I’m not sure you know what it means, Emma,” he put his hands into his pants pockets and shook his head. She was an adult, he couldn’t stop her leaving. “I don’t like letting you go when you’re in a strange mood dear. Maybe we should talk.”

She shrugged again despite the fact he hadn’t asked her any questions. “Okay, Professor.” 

He raised an eyebrow. Calling him professor once was alright. But twice? That was a bit more odd, and in addition to that, the way she was putting distance between them and sneaking about was just out of character.  
“Okay. I’m not stupid,” he cleared his throat, placing a hand to his forehead. “What have I done?” 

Emma laughed anxiously. “What’ve you...?” She denied it at first.

“Yes, dear. You’re trying to avoid me, and you were sneaking about before, I could barely hear you.”

“I didn’t want to distract you!” She shook her head.

“Are you that upset about having to leave the lab?” 

She shook her head again. Her lips pursed shut, and he knew he had hit a nerve. 

“Okay, not that. Was it something I did?” 

She shrugged at first, but nodded when she realised he could read her like a book anyways. She mumbled something he couldn’t make out before lifting her head to gauge his reaction and glare at him with heavy and hurt eyes. “I can’t stand that,” she said, her voice clearer. “My dad used to do that all the time.” 

“What did you say?” A twitch of anxiety pulsed through him. That was not how he wanted her ending her sentences. 

She flinched away from his words, raising her shoulders up around her neck and placing an arm across the back of the chair. “It reminds me of my dad?” She spoke like it was a question. 

“What does, dear?” He took some cautious steps towards her before kneeling down as to not intimidate her. 

“The way you did that thing...” her voice lowered right down to a mumble again and she rested her head in the crook of her arm. “I don’t like it when you,” she couldn’t say it, but she clicked her fingers twice with a growl. She could contain herself for a moment but she straightened her back and turned to click her fingers in Hidgens’ face. “I’m not an animal!” She erupted with a shout. “I’m not a dog! You don’t talk to people like that! It’s not fair!”

“Oh!” He reached out to capture her hand in his as she withdrew it. “Oh dear, no! No you it isn’t!”

Hidgens never thought of Emma’s father, he always thought maybe if he didn’t she wouldn’t either, but it wasn’t that simple. He could count the amount of times he had seen him on his fingers, but the memories were clearer now, and they had never dulled for Emma.

“Oh goodness,” he put his hands on her shoulders but he couldn’t get her to turn and face him. “Dear, I wasn’t even thinking about that. Will you walk to the couch with me dear? We can sit down and talk about it.”

Emma was biting down on her lip and her nose was scrunched up like she was trying not to get angry as she stood.

“Well, it’s your choice though obviously my dear. We can stay here if you like. That wasn’t a demand!” He waved his hands to assure her.

“Good.” Emma nodded. “I kinda want to stay here.” 

“That’s fine, Emma,” he readjusted himself before deciding it was better to pull out his own seat at the table besides her. “Dear. I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that without a doubt. It wasn’t a fair way to talk to anyone. I’m old, and I still make those mistakes. Sometimes things slip my mind, and I forget what makes you upset.  
I need to do a better job at making sure you’re alright.”

“I know I’m dumb sometimes, but I don’t want to be spoken to like I’m a kid who can’t look after herself.” She raised her head from her arm to breathe in. “I just wanted to work with you. I’m not a baby, Hidgens. I’m a biologist too, I can give you a hand. I want that learning opportunity.”

He fell silent to let her explain herself. He had to think of some sort of adequate apology. 

“I’m not a child. You act like I’m going to like, what? Spill my juice box and throw a tantrum? Cry when you don’t give me your attention? I’m an adult, and I know the lab protocol. I was just going to sit in the corner and do my work, man. Would turning pages really distract you that much?” She tossed her arms up ever so slightly before letting her head fall back into them, resting it on the back of her chair to show she was done speaking, but also done listening. 

“Emma, will you let me apologise please?”

“I know you didn’t mean it, man.” She rubbed her thumbs across her eyes. “It’s just put me in a bad mood. You wouldn’t do that to anyone else. Only me.” She tilted her head like she was rolling her eyes. “It’s because you treat me like a child sometimes, and you have no problems talking down to me.”  
She bit down on her lower lip, taking in a breath and holding it for a second. “Um,” she was cautious as she continued. “I know I can be a brat sometimes. But I’m not incompetent. I could probably really help you with the experiment.”

“Well I’d still like to say something.” He placed a hand tentatively on her back, testing her boundaries to see how far her walls were up. “I think you’re right, dear,” he began, an ever-so slight yet anxious shake to his voice. “You’re an adult, and I don’t give you enough credit for that sometimes.” 

“I know that,” Emma slumped. She would never ignore a compliment to her ego, but she was quite settled into her bad mood. 

“Good god, I can barely wrap my head around how you were on your own off in Guatemala for years! I love you dear, and I want the best for you, I really do. I’ll admit that sometimes I’m a bit overbearing, and some days I want nothing more than for you to move back in with me. I see you so much as my child that I let myself forget you’re also my top student, Emma. You’re smart, and nearly as qualified as I am.”

She let out a quiet, reserved chuckle. “I’m a good student but I don’t have a degree. You’re way ahead of me.” 

“I hope you’ll forgive me, dear. I know it wasn’t polite, but I understand that it was much more than that now.”

Emma shrugged, scuffing her socks against the hardwood floorboards. “I forgive you man. I know it was a mistake.”

He dipped his head, closing his weary eyes with a tired smiled. “I was more distracted when you were gone, if I’m honest.”

Emma burrowed her head back into her arms, presumably so she could smile and muffle a laugh. 

“I could barely start the experiment. I was far too busy wondering what you were getting up to. I even came upstairs to look for you,” he tapped his forehead. “You were right Emma, as you usually are.” 

She pulled her head back up, turning it around to look at him. “You barely started the experiment?” There was a hopeful look in her round eyes. 

“Barely, dear. I was far too worried.” He had to give in to that look. He couldn’t say no any longer. “And you know, it’s difficult to write out your observations when you’re working with tools,” he gave her an implying look, watching a smile spread across her face again.  
“So would you like to give me a hand, dear?”


End file.
